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The Comedy of Brent Butt and the Canadian Psyche – Corner Gas

In some countries, comedy is a serious business

Brent Butt, writer and creator of “Corner Gas”.

At the time that I relocated to Canada from South Africa, I thought that the situation down South was pretty depressing. The tension in the country was even showing in the work of local comedians who seemed to have turned bitter and defensive. Comedy was either viciously political or superficial and slapstick. Making fun of public figures could get you sued. My impression was that South Africans had lost the ability to laugh at themselves. It was not a good time to be politically incorrect.

Then I arrived in Canada and saw my first episode of the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas. First I thought; ’¿Qué…?!’ Then, ‘Oh, this is funny!’ It was philosophical, but also witty – in a dry, sneaky sort of way. There are poignant, reflective moments and some hard truths underlying the banter in some episodes, which gave them more depth than one would expect from a sitcom.

Corner Gas – A bit of Canadania

Corner Gas is an example of art as truth: “Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth,” to quote Pablo Picasso. It’s social commentary on small-town life in Canada, versus living in the big city, Toronto.

It’s about the Canadian Way of Doing Things. But it also makes gentle fun of Canadians, and Canadians, God bless their little cotton socks, loved it when it was an award-winning hit, running from 2004 to 2009. And they still love it a decade later, with the show continually being rebroadcast and airing in 28 countries. It says something about Canadians. They can take the truth about themselves, but they can also laugh at themselves. They didn’t sue Brent Butt – rather, they proclaimed April 13, 2009, and the same day ever after, as Corner Gas Day in Saskatchewan. In fact, two successive sitting prime ministers, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, made cameo appearances on the show. Screenwriter Dennis McGrath commented that before Corner Gas, the refrain was simple:

“‘Canadians don’t want to watch Canadian shows.’” Networks would petition the CRTC to reduce their CanCon obligations by saying ‘Don’t force us to make shows that Canadians don’t want to watch.’ Canadian shows would sometimes premiere to big numbers. People gave them a shot, but rarely came back. But was it really because they were Canadian, or just not very good? Corner Gas settled the argument. It shocked CTV by drawing over a million viewers – not just once, but week after week. It was bounced all over the schedule. Not only did the audience follow the show – it managed to outlast and outdraw most of the U.S. shows that replaced it.

As much as Corner Gas changed the thinking at networks, its effect on people making TV was greater. Producers used to pitching earnest Canadian dramas with more social than entertainment value took one look at this genial little show with its sly, understated humour and didn’t know what to make of it. It was not uncommon in the first couple of seasons to go to industry events and hear people run Corner Gas down. But a new generation of writers saw in Corner Gas an alternative. It was something to shoot for: a popular homegrown show for a homegrown audience…On [Corner] Gas, the writers’ work was respected, and that attracted the finest comedy writers in the country. The jokes were slightly absurd, sharp but never mean. The characters were pleasingly self-deprecating and not too full of themselves. Canadians recognized themselves in them.”

The fictional small town where there’s not a lot going on, Dog River.

The show ended in 2009, but seeing it for the first time in 2011, it was as fresh and new to me as if it were filmed that year. I’ve watched every series of Corner Gas on TV and on DVD, many episodes more than once. By the time I’d done that, I considered myself somewhat educated in the humour of Canada and the typical Canadian mindset (those of the characters as well as the viewers and fans), and willing to learn some more.

Nothing much goin’ on

Nothing much happens in Dog River. The band The Odds sing in the series’ theme song, “Not a lot goin’ on”:

“You can tell me that your dog ran away,
Then you tell me that it took three days.
I’ve heard every joke
I’ve heard every word you say
You think there’s not a lot goin’ on
but look closer baby you’re so wrong
That’s why you can stay so long,
‘Cause there’s not a lot going on.”

Because the drama in the series is low-key, even lacking, the repartee between the characters often deals with philosophical, cultural or moral questions – friendship, loyalty, morality, patriotism, pacifism, language, physics, free will, civic duty, how much they hate the neighbouring town, Wullerton (“Eegh. Spit!”), etc. In that respect, the scripts reminded me of the philosophical and moral debates underlying most of the episodes in the original Star Trek series. (Expanded on in The Value of Star Trek, by Michael Stark).

For instance:

Davis: Uh… I came to use your skate sharpener.
Oscar Leroy: Getting ready for the season opener, eh? Geez, I can’t wait.
Davis: I heard we almost lost Brent.
Oscar Leroy: What do you mean?
Davis: The Stonewood Saints asked him to play for their team.
Oscar Leroy: They what? Sons of… How would they like it if we went there and burnt down their rink?
Karen Pelly: That genuinely seems like an appropriate response to you?

Brent LeRoy: I’m not up on that new stuff.
Wanda Dollard: You’re not up on it? Or you’re not into it?
Brent LeRoy: I might be into it, if I was up on it. But I’m not up on it, so I’m not into it. What I’m into, I’m up on.
Lacey Burrows: I’m mostly into what I’m up on, but even though I’m not up on the new stuff, I’m sort of into it.
Brent LeRoy: I’m down with that.
Wanda Dollard: Prepositions are fun, aren’t they?
Brent LeRoy: What’s a preposition?

Karen Pelly: I can’t believe you’re sending me in without back-up.
Davis: It’s just a fishing trip Karen.
Karen Pelly: But it’s with Hank, twelve hours, killing fish.
Davis: If it gets to you, you don’t have to kill him, just throw him into the lake.
Karen Pelly: I wasn’t worried about the fish.
Davis: I wasn’t talking about the fish.

Customer: What’s that, quantum physics?
Wanda Dollard [reading a book]: Yeah, I’ve always been fascinated that light could be a particle and a wave. I was gonna study it in college, but then I got interested in biochemistry. And then on a whim settled on Linguistics with minor in Comparative Religion.
Customer: Wow, how’d you end up in a place like this?
Wanda Dollard: The last girl quit, can you believe it?

Davis: [after losing the Grey Cup tickets] Well, I’ll have to go to a scalper.
Karen Pelly: Isn’t it weird for you to go to a scalper?
Davis: Why? Because I’m a Cree man? I resent that!
Karen Pelly: Because you’re a police officer and scalping tickets is illegal.
Davis: Oh yeah.
[The irony here is that the actor who plays Davis, Lorne Cardinal, is actually a Cree, of the Sucker Creek First Nation.]

Lacey: You’re going through caffeine withdrawal and have overslept.
Brent (ordering): Two large cokes.
(Lacey brings him a glass of milk.)
Bent: Ah, tryptophan. that’ll help. [Tryptophan in milk helps you sleep.]

Oh go on, get published!

I think Brent Butt is a superb comedian, writer and actor, and the Corner Gas scripts are genius. (Let’s just say I’m a fan.) If they ever published the scripts, I’d buy them in a flash, and if Brent Butt ever taught a course or workshop in comedy writing, I’d be the first to enrol. Corner Gas convinced me that Canadians have a sense of humour – despite what everyone else days, and what they say about themselves.

Humour is not just a reliable intelligence-indicator; it may be one of the most important traits for humans seeking mates – being witty is also sexy. (Think about that.) If you combine intelligence, particularly verbal intelligence, with satire, you get great comedy and great social criticism, and Corner Gas is an excellent example of both. Its success is also an indicator that freedom of expression and tolerance are alive and well in Canada. I doubt whether the equivalent of Corner Gas would have done well, or even been possible, in the South Africa of today.

All I can say is, Mr. Brent Butt, thank you, from a grateful almost-Canadian.

1 comment on “The Comedy of Brent Butt and the Canadian Psyche – Corner Gas”

Update on this post, May 30, 2014

Corner Gas is going to be a movie! It’s currently in production! Hooray! Says Brent Butt on his blog (on May 20, 2014): “…the original story for this script was dreamed up by me and two other Corner Gas writers, and the actual script was written by me and Andrew Carr (one of the original writers on all six seasons) along with a nice, talented guy named Andrew Wreggit, who helped us transform a short-form show into a feature length movie.” Follow all the action on Twitter: @CornerGas; and check out the new website at cornergasthemovie.com

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